Story+2005-07-31+Columbus,+OH

“Thanks a lot....alright, uh....the only thing I could use tonight is about as much quiet as I can get, outside of that enjoy yourselves (?)....I´m gonna start with something that I´ve, I´ve never played before so....this is obscure (chuckles)(tries the piano) I´m gonna turn, turn me down there a little bit....might work, I don´t know....this was a song John Sayles called me up and asked me for a song for the end of one of his pictures and so I wrote this....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Lift Me Up”**

“Thank you!....thanks and good evening once again, alright, had a, uh....the first teenaga party the other night (laughter) what´s so funny? (chuckles) and, uh, the girls finally showed up, you know....nothing too radical going on but, uh (chuckles) but, uh....you know, another step along that way of parental....development, you go from the, uh (chuckles) you go from the, you know, the benevolent hand of God, the almighty, all-knowing creature to a tolerable idiot....with the money....to a fucking idiot with the money....so....at any rate....(someone yells “Growin´ Up”) I tell you, I´m gonna do you a favor, my friend, the guy´s yelling for ´Growin´ Up´ about the fifth time, I´m not gonna play that fucker tonight (chuckles) I played it the other night, I´m gonna play something else (chuckles) alright....it´s nice to get those things out of the way (chuckles) that we don´t, we don´t tease each other all night long, I don´t like to do that (chuckles) this is ´Long Time Comin´....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Long Time Comin´”**

“Thank you, oh, thanks, I always got to, uh, in the interest of full disclosure every night I tell the crowd that that last verse should´ve, should´ve read ´I ain´t gonna fuck it up too bad this time´....that, that actually, yeah, but I couldn´t fit all the words, words and it didn´t sing right, ´fuck it up too bad this time,´ it doesn´t work as well but, uh, but that´s the intent, of course (chuckles) you know, uh....alright and, uh (?) I haven´t played this one before either, I´m gonna play this the first time by myself, yeah, that´s right (people clap)(?) ´You hang your ass out there, Boss´ (chuckles) alright (chuckles) alright, this was a request (?) let´s see if I got it....oh yeah, alright....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Back in Your Arms” (following “Long Time Comin´”)**

“Alright....thank you....thanks a lot....thank you, my friend, I only screwed up a few chords in there, it wasn´t too bad....alright, somebody (people yelling requests)(?)(chuckles) alright, somebody out back wanted to hear this song, I´ve played this a bunch of times, I´m gonna play it again, uh....this was kind of, I´ve been telling the crowd, you know, when I was a kid, my, my dad told me that all love songs were government propaganda and, uh, and that´s, that´s, I say this every night and it´s, it´s because it stopped me from writing love songs for about 30 years (chuckles) but I think I, I wrote ´em and I hid ´em, I hid ´em, I hid ´em inside of other songs so, uh, alright, here we go....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´For You”**

“Alright, I haven´t played this one before, uh, a night of debuts, a night of debuts....this should be funny, alright, I think I need some slap....perhaps in the house....alright....here we go....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Cynthia”**

“Thank you!....who would´ve thought that son of a bitch would turn out so good? (chuckles) ....(?) the crew, I gotta give you credit, somebody, uh, wrote that, wrote that on the list, that was good....no money but credit, you get credit (chuckles) alright, I played this one the other night, gonna play it again....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´One Step Up” (following “Cynthia”)**

“Alright, thank you, fellas....for bringing this thing out here....let me see what I got, alright, here we go....thank you, boys....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´When You´re Alone”**

“You can take that, fellas....alright, yeah, wait a minute, I´m looking for some music, this was a, yeah, alright, somebody asked for this thing out back, I´ve played it a couple other times, haven´t played it before but uh....let me get my whereabouts (tries the piano) (chuckles) yeah, I´ll use that too, alright, I´ll give it a shot....this is for Samantha (someone claps) and, yeah, alright, that´s.....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Valentine´s Day”**

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, alright, I was, uh....I was brought up Catholic and uh....and, but, you know, I, I, I quit it around when I was 13, I kind of (chuckles) I had enough and I had told my parents that I wasn´t going to Catholic high school, I said ´No, I don´t care what, you know, what you do to me, I´m, I can´t take it, you know,” so they sent me to Catechism class and, uh, and then, uh....let me see what happened, oh yeah, everybody fooled around, it was Monday night and I went there for a while and then she kind of, you know, my mother forgot about it, you know, ´Oops, missed it,´ you know, and, uh (?) gee, I, I, I got away from the whole thing and, and, and, but it´s sort of like that Al Pacino-line in, uh, in, uh, in that Godfather III, you know, I´m, I´m, ´I keep trying to get out but they keep pulling me back, you know, they keep,´ it´s the same sort of, ´they´ in my case being not the mafia but my relatives, I suppose, and, uh, aunts and uncles, they get me to church, you know, for, you know, there´s confirmations or something else going in the family and, uh, then they always try to get me to go to Communion which you´re not supposed to do if you´ve, you know, if you haven´t made your confession and your act of contrition so I´m kind of through with the whole confessing thing and I, I don´t feel very contrite these days, as I tell ´em, so, so, uh, uh, but they, then if that doesn´t work, I tell ´em that I´m, I´m divorced and that actually means you´re excommunicated....once you´re, once you´re divorced, you´re excommunicated, I think, I think they should (?) that law because I mean they´re leaving out a whole lot of folks that could be dropping cash into that basket (?) and, uh, it´s just bad business....you know, if you´re divorced, you can´t come to the show! that´s bad business (chuckles) oh, I don´t know who thought that one up but, uh, uh, at any rate I look back through my songs and of course, you know, they´re filled with religious imagery and, and, uh, uh, and which was, has been a source of, of, of kind of poetry and, and power, uh, uh, arising from the sheer terror of my childhood (chuckles) but uh.... anyhow, anyhow I wrote this song trying to imagine, I wrote a lot of songs about parents and, and kids and, and I wrote this one trying to imagine Jesus as somebody´s son, once you have your, your, everybody´s somebody´s baby (chuckles) and uh, uh....you know, your kids, they have their own destiny which they´re informing you of at quite an early age and you also know ´Shit, I´m along the whole ride of this sucker....wherever this is going, I´m going too, you know (chuckles) I´m going there too´ (chuckles) so, uh, thinking about that, this is a song called ´Jesus Was an Only Son´.... (....) At his mother´s feet....now the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is that suddenly in your stomach there appears this feeling that you realise that there´s nothing ....nothing you wouldn´t do, no train you wouldn´t step in front of to keep them safe.... (....) Will pierce your dream this night....and if you figure the choices we make get their weight and their meaning by the things that we sacrifice for them....you choose something, some part of life....and you give up some other part....I always figured....Jesus had to be thinking about what He was going to lose....He had to be feeling, he was a young guy.... ´There´s that sweet little bar down in Galilee....I could probably manage the place, Mary Magdalene could tend bar, we could have a bunch of kids and get to see the sun on their face and watch the air fill their lungs at night when they´re sleeping....and get to see the next day ....and the next day....and the next day....and the next day....´´
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Jesus Was an Only Son”**

“Yes, yes, yes, that´s a, uh, that´s, that, that also rhymes with ´easier said than done´ (chuckles) I should´ve, ´easier said than done,´ I should´ve thrown that in there (laughs) but uh (chuckles) damn, why didn´t I think of that then? (laughs) oh, I didn´t wanna qualify the whole thing, ´Hey, wait a minute, but,´ you know (chuckles) but uh....but that´s for sure.... and uh....alright, we carry with us the seeds of all good things, ability to make things grow and create things and, uh, with the other hand we carry with us the seeds of our own destruction and uh....I think that was the deal when we came out and got so far east of Eden (chuckles) that was, that was the deal, made life interesting (chuckles) and dangerous (chuckles) very dangerous, this is, uh, this is ´The Hitter´....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´The Hitter” (following “Two Hearts”)**

“Thank you....back in, uh, back in the early 90´s I lived in California for a while and I wrote a series of songs set in, set in California (?) across the Central Valley and down along the border....this song is kind of a part of that group of songs, I wrote this song as a sequel.....a bit, quite a bit later and, uh, every year there´s hundreds of people, hundreds of people that die trying to come across the southern border into the United States, they die in the rivers, they drown, they die of dehydration crossing the desert, uh, in the backs of vans....uh, they die to come and do the dirtiest and hardest jobs that we have, uh....what we really are in hard, in hard need of is a humane immigration policy and somebody with the guts to try (Bruce´s words are drowned out by people clapping) so I wrote this song backwards, it goes from the, uh, body at the bottom of the river to the walk across the desert to arriving on the banks of the Rio Bravo across from Brownsville, Texas, this is ´Matamoros Banks´....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´Matamoros Banks”**

“Many, many years ago I was in Pittsburgh (cheers) wo!....who´s from Pittsburgh? (some cheers and a few boos or “Bruce”) how close are we to Pittsburgh?....alright, I see there´s a little, there´s a little, there can´t be any rivalry between Columbus and Pittsburgh, right? (chuckles) why not? North Jersey, South Jersey, it´s the same thing (chuckles) at any rate I, I met a fellow that, that was working in the, the Steelworkers´ Foodbank and, and I got involved with a lot of people over the years and some of the folks are here tonight, folks from the Mid-Ohio Foodbank and uh....and they get out there, they work to increase the awareness about hunger in the community and help to feed, feed people, provide food for the struggling citizens of Ohio, on your way out, if you see them there, please, uh, check ´em out and see what they´re up to, and, and give ´em some support if you can and also there´s some folks out there tonight from Unite Here and what they´re doing is they´re working to change the health insurance system to that everybody in your state is guaranteed a full and comprehensive health coverage from birth to death.....so, uh, on your way out, please check them out, take a moment and stop by, they´ve got an information table out there and if you´re so inclined, you can sign a petition and you can help with a worthy cause here in your home state, that´s Unite Here, so I´m gonna do this for those folks and, uh, also wanna say, uh.... this was a real, just a lovely evening and, uh (chuckles) had a good time (cheers) yeah....and, uh, thanks for being a great audience and, uh, this is for you, alright....”
 * 31.07.05 Columbus, Ohio, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//